-Live Mint The problem is unlikely to be solved by government action alone   With almost every second child stunted in the country, India is virtually a nutritional basket case. Despite making giant strides in reducing poverty and hunger over the past two decades, India has struggled to combat child under-nutrition. India's malnutrition burden arises from a long history of flawed policy choices and deep-rooted gender inequality, which the new government must address...

-The United Nations   Millions of people suffering under the yoke of modern slavery - more than half are women and girls primarily in commercial sex trade or domestic work - are generating some $150 billion a year in illegal profits for the people who are exploiting them, according to a new report released today by the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO). The startling new report, Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced...

-The Indian Express   Muslim deprivation is embedded in broader developmental challenges. Whenever the Indian electorate has been told that the country is doing well economically, it has displayed disbelief. This voter scepticism has not spared even the largest of national parties. The relatively successful economic performance of the last decade could not be projected effectively by the UPA. BJP/ NDA strategists were quick to take advantage of this and claim that the...

-The Business Standard   Or, why our subsidy and tax policies have been almost exactly wrong Thomas Piketty's seminal book on inequality, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, comes at a fortuitous time. Although inequality has been a well-discussed issue in India for some time now, the success of the book contributes by sharpening the debate. It complements the McKinsey Global Institute's (MGI) report titled "From poverty to empowerment: India's imperative for jobs, growth,...

-The United Nations   People everywhere are living longer, the United Nations health agency today reported, mostly because fewer children are dying, certain diseases are in check, and tobacco use is down, but conditions in low-income countries continue to plague life quality there. According to the UN World Health Organization's (WHO) World Health Statistics 2014, a girl born in 2012 can expect to live around 73 years and a boy to the...